I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.
Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.
Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard says he saved his county $1.6 million by privatizing jail food services and schools should take similar measures to bring down costs.
The Associated Press reports that the Republican gubernatorial candidate is suggesting that Michigan schools pursue privatizing food, transportation and janitorial services.
“The Troy School District in Oakland County is saving $4 million a year by working with the private sector,” Bouchard said in a release. “It’s time that more schools partner with the private sector as well as other districts to deliver support services. It … eliminates the false choice of either slashing funding for schools or raising taxes.”
Fellow Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Cox supports the idea, and told AP that he proposed something similar months ago, but GOP candidate U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Holland and Democrat State Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith (D-Salem) said that the strategy has flaws.
“Consolidation of services, whether it’s school districts or local government, is absolutely necessary and will lead to creative ways to provide those services,” [Hoekstra spokesman] John Truscott said. “But we think it should be left up to the school districts to find ways to do that.”
Democratic state Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith said Bouchard’s plan would be difficult to implement.
“When you get down to transportation and food, you have special needs that Mike Bouchard doesn’t have to address” with jail inmates, she said. “There are some economies of scale, but there also are some pretty serious considerations that have to be taken into account.”
Michigan schools are struggling to come up with ways to cope with severe funding cuts enacted in the 2010 budget.
Last week, in an effort to build support for new school funding, the Michigan Parent Teacher Association held a bake sale at the Capitol in Lansing.
WZZM-TV in Grand Rapids reports:
Parents sold cookies, cupcakes, and baked goods on the steps of the state capitol to raise money for education and to raise awareness of state funding cuts of nearly $300 per student this year.
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